ATLANTA — The packages started piling up on the front porch of Marilyn Bowden’s home in Atlanta’s Virginia Highland neighborhood. Luxury goods and electronics shipped from Amazon were inside.
All of them had Bowden’s name and address, and she eventually learned that all of them, were charged to her credit card.
“Well, there were so many that I immediately went to my account and realized I couldn’t get in my account,” Bowden told Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Justin Gray.
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The purchases that showed up included a smart watch, an AI translator and other electronics.
Bowden says she has spent the last tree weeks trying to get help from Amazon.
“They wouldn’t talk to me because my name is no longer on the account. The person who hacked into the account changed the name, changed the email, and so Amazon was not willing to talk to me about it,” Bowden said.
Bowden discovered that the crook also then used that account access to try to transfer thousands of dollars’ worth of cash from the credit card linked to the account. The credit card company blocked those transfers.
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Amazon has information on common scams like email impersonation and package brushing on its website. It also has a link where you can report unauthorized activity on your account.
But while Bowden still does not have access to her account, she believes whoever hacked it does.
“The largest retailer in the world should have a customer service department that you can get in touch with and that takes fraud and security seriously,” Bowden said
Channel 2 Action News reached out to Amazon but has not heard back.
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